Not long after being crowned national champions, LSU nearly had its postgame celebration cut short after a police officer reportedly issued a stern warning of arrest to its players.
LSU’s players broke out victory cigars after knocking off defending champion Clemson in a 42-25 win Monday night in the College Football Playoff National Championship, smoking them for “easily 15 minutes” before one of the officers on duty told them they were not allowed to smoke them, according to AL.com’s Michael Casagrande.
Casagrande said “several players holding stogies laughed at the warning like it was a joke,” but the officer wasn’t smiling and informed the players that any of them caught smoking would be subject to arrest. Another officer reportedly stepped in and told the players it was fine to smoke them in the locker room, but the first one insisted his commander said it was not allowed.
The drama ended there, though, as nobody was arrested and the celebration raged on into the early hours of Tuesday morning with a haze of smoke spilling out of the locker room before reporters were allowed to enter, according to Casagrande.
Heisman winner Joe Burrow later emerged from the locker room with his cigar and smoked it on the way to his postgame press conference, the last of his collegiate career with the prolific quarterback expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Burrow was the driving force behind the Tigers’ perfect 15-0 campaign that concluded with the program’s fourth national championship. He finished the season with 5,671 passing yards and 60 touchdowns — both ranked first in the nation — with just six interceptions after logging one last record-setting performance in the most important game of the year.
Joe Burrow Shatters Expectations One Last Time
Going against the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense, Burrow sliced through Clemson like soft butter. He threw for 463 yards, rushed for another 58 and scored all six of LSU’s touchdowns — including a 52-yard heave to Ja’Marr Chase in the first quarter and a 24-yard dagger to Terrace Marshall Jr. in the fourth quarter.
It was quite the finish for Burrow after a dominate two College Football Playoff games that saw him score 14 touchdowns and throw no interceptions while amassing 1,035 total yards of offense. His 65 total touchdowns on the year — counting five rushing scores — is more in a single season than any other player in the history of college football.
While Burrow’s mind-boggling numbers are alone enough to cement him into LSU lore, it helps that the young quarterback has used his prestige and platform to generate good. He gave an inspiring Heisman acceptance speech that has generated more than half a million dollars in donations to help the homeless in his hometown of Athens, Ohio.
“He’s one of the greatest players in LSU history,” head coach Ed Orgeron said after Monday night’s win. “He’s on a soapbox for the state of Louisiana and LSU. We are so grateful for Joe Burrow.”
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